Metalloinvest, a leading global iron ore and HBI producer and supplier, and one of the regional producers of high-quality steel, and KAMAZ (part of the state corporation Rostec) held their fourth Coordination Committee meeting to discuss technical and commercial issues.
Delegates met at OEMK (part of Metalloinvest), a leading supplier of high-quality rolled steel products (SBQ) for the automotive industry. In November 2017, Metalloinvest and KAMAZ signed a three-year memorandum of cooperation for the supply of SBQ. KAMAZ orders up to 80% of its long steel product requirements from OEMK.
OEMK’s rolled products are used at the KAMAZ enterprises to produce essential and high-load components and assemblies of automobiles including drive shafts and gearboxes, gearboxes, cogwheels, steering components, rods, pillars and the springs used in shock absorbers. SBQ is known for its narrow hardenability band, regulated by the content of non-metallic inclusions, with a set microstructure; it is strong and highly flexible and is aimed at increased machinability.
Sergey Shishkovets, Managing Director of OEMK, commented: “KAMAZ is a key partner and one of the main consumers of OEMK metals. The enterprise delivers high-quality structural metal from carbon and alloyed steel grades to the plant, including 50 mm diameter bars and 17 mm diameter rods. KAMAZ is one of the key producers of heavy-duty trucks in Russia, which have on many occasions won the prestigious Dakar Rally. We share the joy of your victories and believe that we are part of this success, because every KAMAZ vehicle contains some of OEMK’s rolled steel.”
Denis Kochnev, Director of Materials and Metals Procurement at KAMAZ, said: “We have been collaborating with OEMK for a long time. However, the turning point in the relationship happened after Metalloinvest and KAMAZ signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2015. We regularly meet up to discuss future projects and challenges and we hope that our mutually-beneficial partnership will continue. One of the key issues discussed at this Coordination Committee meeting is finding opportunities to develop and supply new grades of steel to reduce the cost of final products for the automotive plant, without compromising on quality.”
The Coordination Committee meetings, which take place twice a year, help both sides to define the course of future development.
Igor Sych, Director of Steel Product Sales at Management Company Metalloinvest, commented: “A number of commercial, technical and organisational issues were discussed during the Coordination Committee meeting. We have been working with KAMAZ for a number of years on the basis of a ‘price formula’, which defines the annual basic price for steel products and we revise this quarterly based on scrap and ferroalloys pricing. Recently, we introduced an electronic document processing system, to which KAMAZ has suggested some improvements: not only would they like to receive all documents electronically, but they would also like to see the stages of order processing, from the moment the order is placed at the enterprise to the point at which products are loaded to the carriages and delivered.”
As part of the meeting, KAMAZ representatives visited Lebedinsky GOK, where they learned about the process of HBI production. They also visited Lebedinsky GOK’s open pit, a unique iron ore reserve which is the largest in the world by extraction of non-combustible minerals. The next Coordination Committee meeting will take place in autumn at KAMAZ’s facilities.
Source from Metalloinvest
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